PECO Building, Cira Centre to light up for SS United States

Displays on two Philadelphia skyscrapers will show support for a gutted ocean liner docked on the Delaware River.

Starting tonight, lights on the PECO Building and Cira Centre will feature the SS United States, a luxury ocean liner that's been sitting on the Delaware since 1996.

The colorful lights are meant to encourage people to help the ship, whose supporters are concerned that it could be sold for scrap if money isn't raised to support it.

Graphics of the ocean liner will be displayed on the PECO Building at 23rd and Market streets and Cira Centre near 30th and Market tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, according to the SS United States Conservancy, a group that aims to protect the ship.

The ship's supporters are also planning an outreach rally in LOVE Park on Tuesday afternoon.

The steamship is larger than the Titanic and carried more than one million passengers between 1952 and 1969, including four presidents, Marlon Brando, Judy Garland, Salvador Dali, Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.

The ship broke the trans-Atlantic speed record in both directions on its first voyage.